Union speaks on child care
The Peak
Oct 1, 2007
The Executive Committee of CUPE 3338 — Support Staff at SFU

In response to “Child care conundrum” [September 24], our sisters and brothers of the BCEGU Child Care Workers Local are dedicated, skilled, and well-trained and educated professionals who sincerely care about the level and quality of child care services at SFU. In particular, they care about the children and families they serve.

But these child care workers are also women and men who deserve equitable wages and benefits that are commensurate with their duties, skills, and training. They need a fair deal.

It is unfortunate that whenever any unionised employee group on campus is reluctantly forced to exercise their right to strike in order to achieve a fair settlement, anti-union or union-busting arguments are always brought forward as the solution. A certain segment of the community is always ready to argue that the solution to everything is to cut the wages and benefits of women and men who support the university with their labour.

We all feel the stress and strain of making our paycheques stretch from one pay day to the next, but is the solution to pay women and men less than their worth? Less than a fair living wage? Is the solution to bring everyone down to $8.00?

The answer is not penalising the workers — depriving them of hard won wages and benefits by either demanding concessions, or solutions that would destroy the union that protects and fights for them.

The answer lies with the funding — it lies with the provincial and federal government. This is what all CUPE locals in the University Sector, TSSU, and Poly Party confront every time we go to the bargaining table. When it comes to wages and benefits, our employer also sits in Victoria and Ottawa. It’s a long bargaining table.

And just as the federal and provincial governments under-fund universities, resulting in budget shortfalls and all the problems that ensue, including high and rising tuition fees, clearly the problem is the same with child care funding.

What needs to be done is for all constituent groups, all members of the SFU community (including administration), to work together with all other university communities to effectively lobby and campaign now for the funding we need now and for the future if our institutions are to survive as true and public universities — with affordable tuition and child care.

In solidarity and support for our sisters and brothers of the BCGEU